A Wealthy Man

In a talk many years ago President Oaks said this: “I love the musical and motion picture Fiddler on the Roof. There a wonderful Jewish father sings ‘If I Were a Rich Man.’ His memorable prayer concludes with this pleading question: 

Lord, who made the lion and the lamb,

You decreed I should be what I am;

Would it spoil some vast eternal plan,

If I were a wealthy man? 

Yes, Tevye, it might. Let us give thanks for what we are and for the circumstances God has given us for our personal journey through mortality.” As we read in the Book of Mormon we see that riches are in fact more often a curse than a blessing—they were frequently a major cause of the disintegration of righteousness among the Nephites. For example, Mormon recorded this about the Nephites about 25 BC: “For behold, the Lord had blessed them so long with the riches of the world that they had not been stirred up to anger, to wars, nor to bloodshed; therefore they began to set their hearts upon their riches; yea, they began to seek to get gain that they might be lifted up one above another; therefore they began to commit secret murders, and to rob and to plunder, that they might get gain.” They had become so rich that their hearts were turned away from God to their riches. With their wealth they did “build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver” (Helaman 6:17, 31). The prophet of their day, Nephi, spoke to them in these words, “O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you? But behold, it is to get gain, to be praised of men, yea, and that ye might get gold and silver. And ye have set your hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world…. wo shall come unto you because of that pride which ye have suffered to enter your hearts, which has lifted you up beyond that which is good because of your exceedingly great riches!” (Helaman 7:20-21) The Lord finally humbled them with a famine, and they turned back to Him for a time only to fall away again from the faith as soon as they prospered in the land again. Mormon lamented, “Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives… yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity” (Helaman 12:2). The Nephites frequently struggled in their faith because of their prosperity, and their examples stand as a warning to us today about the possible effect of riches.

                We see another example of this struggle with riches for the Nephites after the great victory they had over the Gadianton robbers. The Lord miraculously preserved them from those terrible robbers, and eventually they started to prosper in the land again after the destruction of the war. Mormon recorded what happened: “But it came to pass in the twenty and ninth year there began to be some disputings among the people; and some were lifted up unto pride and boastings because of their exceedingly great riches, yea, even unto great persecutions; For there were many merchants in the land, and also many lawyers, and many officers. And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning; yea, some were ignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great learning because of their riches.” Their riches caused them to persecute others and become puffed up in pride over their brethren, and this led them away from their faith in God. Mormon commented further, “Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world” (3 Nephi 6:10-12,15). It was their riches and search for vain things that puffed them up with pride and led to their quick demise. The same thing happened after the long period of peace following the Savior’s visit among the Nephites: “And also the people who were called the people of Nephi began to be proud in their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, and become vain like unto their brethren, the Lamanites” (4 Nephi 1:43). So, we might hesitate to pray with Tevyn to become “a wealthy man” for that may be the very thing that leads us away from our God. President Brigham Young famously said, “The worst fear that I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and his people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth; and yet they have to be tried with riches, for they will become the richest people on this earth.” Unlike the Nephites we must learn to put the Lord first in our lives no matter what riches we might obtain and set not our hearts upon them but rather give of them to serve Him. Otherwise, if we are not careful, we might hear these words from the Lord when our worldly possessions are left behind us at death: “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,… but now… thou art tormented” (Luke 16:25).